Darlene Nipper.

Darlene Nipper started the New Year with a new job: director of the office of LGBT affairs for Washington, D.C., mayor Anthony Williams. She replaced Wanda Alston, who was brutally murdered in March 2005. Alston was not only well-liked and nationally known, she was also Nippers best friend.

Alston was a bridge builder and your best friend. How will her legacy and the love you had for her as a friend impact your work?

Wanda is with me every day. She was a strong and formidable foe to those who got in her way and the sweetest friend anyone could ever have. Her voice and my in-depth knowledge of her areas of interest and concern are always a guide for me. This was true when she was alive, and it is still true for me today.

Your direct activist experience is more subtle [than Wanda's] and almost positions you as an outsider [to the movement]. How will you overcome that in this job?

To me, LGBT activism is about what one represents and how. I am an insider in Washington. I have worked the streets of D.C. as an HIV/AIDS educator. I have advocated for having substance treatment services. I am an out and active lesbian who has been in a committed relationship for 10 years. I have devoted my entire career to addressing HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, mental health issues, and now breast cancer. I am a longtime advocate to improve policy on behalf of disenfranchised community members. This is what our community needs: effective advocacy. My plan is to build on my extensive experience to ensure that the bridge-building that Wanda started continues.

--Interviewed by Janice L. Layne.

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